Heartwarming story of a boy and a special tree house

“EmBARKed” is a beautiful 3D animated short created by Mikel Mugica, Adele Hawkins, and Soo Kyung Kang that tells the story of a little boy who created a very special tree house. Sadly, the boy must move away with his family to the city and leave his beloved tree house behind. What unfolds is a quick tale that includes a road trip, a reunion, and the creation of new friendships and a happy future.

The trio created this tender animation at the Ringling College of Art and Design over the course of 3 semesters from January 2014 through May 2015. The group used a variety of tools including Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Maya (for rigging, modeling, and animation), ZBrush for additional modeling, Pixar’s Renderman for shading, and HRD Light Studio for lighting effects.

The soundtrack for “EmBARKed” was created by Carlos Martin and audio effects by Dione Tan.

Bravo to Miel, Adele, and Soo! “EmBARKed” brings together beautiful and effective use of storytelling, character design, and animation best practices that are the foundation of major, feature length animations. We can’t wait to see what future works you create!